preview

Rn 1320 Unit 1 Research Paper

Decent Essays

TITLE OF PAPER

John Lee
7725719
RLGN 1320 A01
November 21st, 2014
TITLE OF PAPER Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism are religions that developed in the East. Although each of these religions possess characteristics unique to itself, they share one thing in common in that they are all religions. Their classification as religions depend on the definition of the word: religion. Webster's Dictionary defines religion as “The outward act or form by which men indicate their recognition of the existence of a god or of gods having power over their destiny, to whom obedience, service, and honor are due.” Frederick Streng's attempt to define religion as, “a process whereby people reach beyond themselves to connect with the true and …show more content…

Buddhists certainly recognize the existence of gods, and they practice many outward acts and forms to show this. Buddhists show their obedience, service, and honor to the Buddha, who is not a god, by memorizing and preaching his teachings, praying to him, dedicating temples and rituals to him, and making offerings to him. This is Webster's lone strong point in its definition of religion regarding Buddhism, and it fails to hold true. The Gautama Buddha claimed that people should not worship him, because he is now in Nirvana – gone from existence. Therefore, there is no true obedience, service, or honor that is due to the Buddha or any god in Buddhism, because they have no power over one's destiny. If one were to exclude “having power over their destiny, to whom obedience, service, and honor are due” from Webster's definition, then perhaps Buddhism could be a religion according to Webster. This is certainly not the case in Buddhism. Gods do not hold any power over any being's destiny outside of their own. The good or bad karma a being generates is the destiny one constructs for itself. These myopic flaws of Webster's definition are impossible to ignore; based on its definition, Buddhism would not be a religion, and its definition would relegates Buddhism to nothing more than practices that appear to be religious but are

Get Access